NR Sidelink Resource Selection Based on LTE Sidelink Information

The present disclosure generally relates to wireless communication, and in particular, to NR sidelink resource selection based on LTE sidelink information.

A user equipment (UE) may be configured with multiple communication links. For example, the UE may receive a signal from a cell of a corresponding network over a downlink and may transmit a signal to the cell of the corresponding network over an uplink. The UE may also be configured to communicate with a further UE via a sidelink (SL). The term sidelink refers to a communication link that may be utilized for device-to-device (D2D) communication. Thus, the SL may facilitate communication between the UE and the further UE without the use of a cell.

As radio access technology (RAT) evolves, a UE may be able to communicate using protocols for multiple different RATS, e.g., Long Term Evolution and 5G New Radio (NR). Both of these RATs support SL communications but in different manners. Thus, co-channel coexistence schemes should be defined to allow a UE to perform both 5G and LTE SL transmissions.

Some exemplary embodiments are related to a method performed by a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with other UEs via a legacy sidelink (SL) connection and a non-legacy SL connection. The method includes receiving legacy SL resource information associated with legacy resources in an legacy resource pool for legacy SL transmissions to be performed by the UE, wherein the legacy SL resource information comprises time location of the legacy resources and resource reservation periods and excluding non-legacy resources of a non-legacy SL resource pool for transmitting non-legacy SL transmissions based on at least the legacy resource information.

Other exemplary embodiments are related to a method performed by a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with other UEs via a legacy sidelink (SL) connection and a non-legacy SL connection. The method includes receiving legacy SL resource information associated with legacy resources in an legacy resource pool for legacy SL transmissions and excluding non-legacy resources of a non-legacy SL resource pool for transmitting non-legacy SL transmissions based on at least the legacy resource information,

The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments relate to a user equipment (UE) selecting non-legacy (e.g., 5G New Radio (NR)) sidelink (SL) resources based on at least information shared by a legacy (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE)) sidelink module related to LTE SL transmissions by the UE or other UEs.

The exemplary embodiments are described with regard to a UE. However, reference to a UE is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The exemplary embodiments may be utilized with any electronic component that may establish a connection to a network and is configured with the hardware, software, and/or firmware to exchange information and data with the network. Therefore, the UE as described herein is used to represent any appropriate type of electronic component.

The exemplary embodiments are also described with regard to a sidelink (SL). The term “sidelink” generally refers to a communication link between the UE and a further UE. The SL provides direct device-to-device (D2D) communication where information and/or data exchanged between the UE and the further UE via the sidelink does not go through a cell. In some configurations, a single sidelink provides bidirectional data communication between the UE and the further UE. In other configurations, a single sidelink provides unidirectional data communication between the UE and the further UE, although signaling may be transmitted in both directions. The term “unicast” refers to one-to-one, i.e., D2D, device communication and generally may refer to either bidirectional or unidirectional communication. Various embodiments may apply to either one or both forms of communication as indicated below.

In some exemplary embodiments, the SL transmissions may occur in the unlicensed spectrum. As used herein, a unlicensed spectrum may include, but is not limited to, a spectrum in which spectrum access is contention based, e.g., Listen Before Talk (LBT) operations.

SL communications are supported by both Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G new radio (NR) standards. In some configurations, the network may provide information to the UE that indicates how a SL connection is to be established, maintained and/or utilized. Thus, while the information and/or data exchanged over the SL does not go through a cell, the UE and the network may exchange information associated with the SL. In other configurations, the SL connection is not under the control of the network. In either configuration, the first UE and the second UE may still perform synchronization procedures, discovery procedures and exchange control information corresponding to the SL connection.

In NR sidelink transmission, two modes of resource allocations schemes are supported for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) packet transmissions. In the first mode (mode 1), the base station (gNB) schedules sidelink resources that require the UE to obtain resource information from the gNB each time a V2X communication is initiated over SL. The second mode is performed autonomously by the UE. For example, in the second mode (mode 2) resource allocation scheme, the transmission (Tx) UE selects the SL transmission resources based on its own sensing and resource selection procedure without any information from receiving (Rx) UE. In the exemplary embodiments, the second mode of resource allocation may be referenced. Additionally, in NR V2X, the resource selection procedure may perform a series of operations to identify candidate resources during the resource selection procedure. These operations will be described in more details below.

While the exemplary embodiments are described with reference to V2X, LTE and 5G, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments are not limited to these examples. For example, the exemplary embodiments may be applied to any SL transmissions, not only V2X SL transmissions. In other examples, the principles described herein for using LTE SL information in selecting NR SL resources may also be applied for using SL information from any legacy protocol in selecting SL resources for a non-legacy protocol. That is, throughout this description, the term LTE may be regarded as meaning any legacy protocol and the term NR may be regarded as meaning any non-legacy protocol. As the cellular communications evolve, NR may become a legacy protocol and a newly introduced Sixth Generation (6G) protocol may be a non-legacy protocol. Thus, when performing 6G SL communications, the 6G sidelink module may obtain information from legacy sidelink modules (e.g., LTE and 5G) for selecting SL resources.

The exemplary embodiments are related to the NR SL module obtaining additional SL information from an LTE SL module when performing the resource selection procedure. The LTE sidelink and the NR sideline may share the same time and frequency resources in a dynamic resource pool. Thus, in the exemplary embodiments, mechanisms for co-channel coexistence between the LTE sidelink and NR sidelink may be defined for both channels to accommodate dynamic resource pool sharing between the LTE sidelink and the NR sidelink. Thus, an LTE sidelink module of the LTE sidelink may share candidate information to the NR sidelink module to prevent both the LTE sidelink and the NR sidelink from using the same frequency and time resources in the same resource pool. Accordingly, the NR sidelink module may use this shared information from the LTE sidelink module to select resources that are available for transmission.

The exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for performing resource exclusion based on information shared by the LTE sidelink module to the NR sidelink module. In one example, the UE may be configured to perform a resource exclusion technique based on the UEs own LTE sidelink transmissions. In another example, the UE may be configured to perform a resource exclusion technique based on non-monitored LTE sidelink transmissions. In a further example, the UE may be configured to perform a resource exclusion technique by handling logical subframes or slots from the LTE and NR sidelink. In another example, the UE may be configured to perform a resource exclusion technique by handling higher SCS of the NR sidelink based on the information shared by the LTE sidelink module. The exemplary techniques described herein may be used in conjunction with currently implemented techniques related to NR sidelink transmissions, future implementations of techniques related to NR sidelink transmissions and independently from other techniques related to NR sidelink transmissions.

1 FIG. 100 100 110 112 110 112 shows an exemplary network arrangementaccording to various exemplary embodiments. The exemplary network arrangementincludes UEs,. Those skilled in the art will understand that the UEs,may be any type of electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network, e.g., a component of a connected car, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a phablet, an embedded device, a wearable, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.

110 112 110 112 Throughout this description, the terms UE, UE and transmitting device may be used interchangeably. Additionally, the terms UE, further UE and receiving device may be also used interchangeably. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs being used by any number of users. Thus, the example of two UEs,is merely provided for illustrative purposes.

110 112 100 110 112 120 122 124 100 110 112 110 110 110 112 120 122 124 The UEs,may communicate directly with one or more networks. In the example of the network configuration, the networks with which the UEs,may wirelessly communicate are a 5G NR radio access network (5G NR-RAN), an LTE radio access network (LTE-RAN)and a wireless local access network (WLAN). These types of networks support vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and/or sidelink communication. In the exemplary network arrangement, the UEsandmay be connected via sidelink. However, the UEmay also communicate with other types of networks and the UEmay also communicate with networks over a wired connection. Therefore, the UEs,may include a 5G NR chipset to communicate with the 5G NR-RAN, an LTE chipset to communicate with the LTE-RANand an ISM chipset to communicate with the WLAN.

120 122 120 122 124 The 5G NR-RANand the LTE-RANmay be portions of cellular networks that may be deployed by cellular providers (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.). These networks,may include, for example, cells or base stations (Node Bs, eNodeBs, HeNBs, eNBS, gNBs, gNodeBs, macrocells, microcells, small cells, femtocells, etc.) that are configured to send and receive traffic from UEs that are equipped with the appropriate cellular chip set. The WLANmay include any type of wireless local area network (WiFi, Hot Spot, IEEE 802.11x networks, etc.).

110 112 120 120 110 112 122 122 The UEs,may connect to the 5G NR-RAN via the gNBA. Reference to a single gNBA is merely for illustrative purposes. The exemplary embodiments may apply to any appropriate number of gNBs. The UEs,may also connect to the LTE-RANvia the eNBA.

110 112 120 122 120 122 110 112 120 110 112 120 110 112 120 120 122 122 Those skilled in the art will understand that any association procedure may be performed for the UEs,to connect to the 5G NR-RANand the LTE-RAN. For example, as discussed above, the 5G NR-RANand the LTE-RANmay be associated with a particular cellular provider where the UEs,and/or the user thereof has a contract and credential information (e.g., stored on a SIM card). Upon detecting the presence of the 5G NR-RAN, the UEs,may transmit the corresponding credential information to associate with the 5G NR-RAN. More specifically, the UEs,may associate with a specific base station (e.g., the gNBA of the 5G NR-RAN, the eNBA of the LTE-RAN).

110 112 110 112 120 122 110 112 120 122 110 112 110 112 120 122 The UEs,may also communicate with one another directly using a sidelink. The sidelink is a direct device-to-device (D2D) communication link. Thus, the information and/or data transmitted directly to the other endpoint (e.g., the UEor the UE) does not go through a cell (e.g., gNBA, eNBA). In some embodiments the UEs,may receive information from a cell regarding how the sidelink is to be established, maintained and/or utilized. Thus, a network (e.g., the 5G NR-RAN, LTE-RAN) may control the SL. In other embodiments, the UEs,may control the sidelink. Regardless of how the sidelink is controlled, the UEs,may maintain a downlink/uplink to a currently camped cell (e.g., qNBA, eNBA) and a SL to the other UE simultaneously.

120 122 124 100 130 140 150 160 130 130 140 In addition to the networks,andthe network arrangementalso includes a cellular core network, the Internet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and a network services backbone. The cellular core networkmay be considered to be the interconnected set of components that manages the operation and traffic of the cellular network, e.g., the 5GC in NR. The cellular core networkalso manages the traffic that flows between the cellular network and the Internet.

150 110 150 130 140 110 160 140 130 160 110 The IMSmay be generally described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UEusing the IP protocol. The IMSmay communicate with the cellular core networkand the Internetto provide the multimedia services to the UE. The network services backboneis in communication either directly or indirectly with the Internetand the cellular core network. The network services backbonemay be generally described as a set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a suite of services that may be used to extend the functionalities of the UEin communication with the various networks.

2 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 110 110 100 110 205 210 215 220 225 230 230 110 110 112 shows an exemplary UEaccording to various exemplary embodiments. The UEwill be described with regard to the network arrangementof. The UEmay include a processor, a memory arrangement, a display device, an input/output (I/O) device, a transceiver, and other components. The other componentsmay include, for example, a SIM card, an embedded SIM (eSIM), an audio input device, an audio output device, a power supply, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the UEto other electronic devices, etc. The UEillustrated inmay also represent the UE.

205 110 235 240 235 240 240 235 The processormay be configured to execute a plurality of engines of the UE. For example, the engines may include an LTE sidelink moduleand a 5G NR sidelink module. As will be described below, the LTE sidelink modulemay be operable to share information to the NR sidelink module. The 5G NR sidelink modulemay perform resource exclusion based on the information shared by the LTE sidelink module. These operations are described in greater detail below.

205 110 110 205 The above referenced engines each being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processoris only exemplary. The functionality associated with the engines may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the UEor may be a modular component coupled to the UE, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. The engines may also be embodied as one application or separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processoris split among two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an applications processor. The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a UE.

210 110 215 220 215 220 225 120 122 225 The memory arrangementmay be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE. The display devicemay be a hardware component configured to show data to a user while the I/O devicemay be a hardware component that enables the user to enter inputs. The display deviceand the I/O devicemay be separate components or integrated together such as a touchscreen. The transceivermay be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G NR-RAN, the WLAN, etc. Accordingly, the transceivermay operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies).

3 FIG. 3 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 300 100 110 shows an exemplary methodfor performing a sidelink resource selection operation according to various exemplary embodiments.will be described with regard to the network arrangementofand the UEof.

305 110 In, the UEmay be configured to determine the resource selection window in the sidelink transmission with the total number of candidate resources in the resource transmission. In the exemplary embodiments, the total number of candidate resources may be represented by SM.

310 110 In, the UEdetermines the sensing window and performs sensing within the sensing window to determine the reserved resources.

315 110 In, the UEmay be configured to obtain the initial reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds based on the quality of service (QoS) of the sidelink data that is to be transmitted, e.g., the quality of the resources that are suited to transmit the SL data.

320 110 110 A In, the UEmay be configured to set the initial candidate set Sas all the resources in the sensing window that have been identified by the UE.

325 110 110 110 110 110 A In, the UEmay be configured to exclude candidate single-slot resources from the Sif the UEis unable to monitor the resources during the sensing that is performed in the sensing window. In the exemplary embodiments, if the UEis unable to perform sensing in the slot of the sensing time window, the UEmay be unable to detect resource reservations within the slot. Accordingly, the UEis unable to determine whether the slot has a resource reservation and therefore may be configured to exclude the slot.

330 110 110 A In, the UEmay be configured to exclude a candidate resource from the Sif the UEdetermines that the candidate resources have been reserved by other UEs with RSRP larger than the threshold value previously defined.

335 110 110 345 320 A total total total In, if the UEdetermines that the number of resources in Sis less that the total number of candidate resources (X*M), the UEmay be configured to increase the RSRP threshold inand return to. It should be understood that the value X Mis some percentage of the total number of resources, e.g., Mis the total number of resources and X is a value 0<X<1. This threshold value may be preconfigured or set based on any relevant factor.

340 110 A Otherwise, in, the UEmay be configured to report the candidate resources in Sto the higher physical layer.

325 330 As described above, when a UE is capable of performing both non-legacy (e.g., NR) and legacy (e.g., LTE) sidelink communications, the legacy and non-legacy sidelink communications may share a dynamic resource pool. Thus, in the exemplary embodiments a UE may perform the exclusion operations (e.g.,,) based on, at least in part, information obtained by the non-legacy sidelink module from the legacy sidelink module of the UE. The manner of the legacy sidelink module sharing the information and the type of information that is shared by the legacy sidelink module is described by way of example in further detail below.

4 FIG. 4 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 4 FIG. 400 110 100 110 420 430 435 440 450 455 420 430 435 440 450 455 illustrates a timing diagramfor performing resource exclusion based on information related to LTE sidelink transmissions of the UEaccording to various exemplary embodiments.will be described with regard to the network arrangementof, the UEofand the method of. In the example of, the x-axis is the time domain but the y-axis is not the frequency domain, e.g., while the resources,,are shown above the resources,,there is no requirement that the resources,,be a different frequency than the resources,,.

4 FIG. 110 110 110 235 110 240 110 240 In the example of, the UEmay be configured to operate autonomously during an NR sidelink operations to exclude resources based on information concerning LTE sidelink transmissions performed by the UE, e.g., the LTE sidelink transmissions and the NR sidelink transmissions are to be performed by the same UE. Thus, the LTE sidelink moduleof the UEwill share the information with the NR sidelink moduleof the UEand the NR sidelink modulemay then use this information when performing the exclusion operations.

110 110 110 235 235 Initially, the information related to the LTE sidelink transmission resources may include resources that have been reserved and/or selected by the UE. In the exemplary embodiments, it may be considered that a selected resource is a resource on which the UEintends to transmit SL data, whereas a reserved resource is a resource that the UEreserves for a future SL transmissions but that transmission may or may not be performed, e.g., a retransmission. In some exemplary embodiments, the LTE sidelink modulemay share information for both reserved resources and selected resources. In some exemplary embodiments, the LTE sidelink modulemay share information for only reserved resources.

235 240 235 110 240 In some exemplary embodiments, the information that is shared by the LTE sidelink modulewith the NR sidelink modulemay include time location of resources and resource reservation periods for the LTE SL communications. In these exemplary embodiments, the LTE sidelink modulemay omit reporting the frequency location of resources. This is because the UEmay be configured to perform only an LTE SL transmission or an NR SL transmission in a particular subframe. Thus, once the NR sidelink moduleunderstand that an LTE SL transmission is to occur in particular resource (in time), that resource may be excluded from the NR resource set regardless of the location in the frequency domain.

resel 240 235 Additionally, the information may also include Cwhich is any periodic extension of the LTE sidelink resources. This information informs the NR sidelink moduleof the number of resources that will be selected subsequently by the LTE sidelink module.

4 FIG. 4 FIG. 4 FIG. 410 235 110 240 420 240 425 240 430 435 410 440 240 445 240 450 455 410 resel resel To provide an example of the exclusion operation based on the above described exemplary embodiments, in, it may be considered that there is an NR resource selection window. The LTE sidelink modulemay report the time location of resources and resource reservation periods for the LTE SL communications of the UEto the NR sidelink module. As described above, this information may be for reserved resources and selected resources or for only reserved resources. In this example, the time location of a first LTE SL resourcemay be reported to the NR sidelink modulealong with the resource reservation period illustrated asinand a Cvalue of 2. Thus, the NR sidelink modulewill understand that the LTE SL resourcesandfall within the NR resource selection window. In this example, the time location of a second LTE SL resourcemay be reported to the NR sidelink modulealong with the resource reservation period and a Cvalue of 2 as also illustrated asin. Thus, the NR sidelink modulewill understand that the LTE SL resourcesandalso fall within the NR resource selection window. For the purposes of this example, the priority of the LTE SL resources may be ignored as the priority will be described in greater detail below (e.g., the priority information is not used for exclusion operations in this example).

240 240 300 240 430 435 450 455 410 As described above, this information concerning the LTE SL resources may be used by the NR sidelink modulewhen performing the resource selection procedure, specifically when excluding certain resources from the candidate resources for NR SL transmissions. When the NR sidelink modulemay perform this exclusion operation based on the LTE SL resource information in the context of the methodwill be described in greater detail below. In the example started above, the NR sidelink modulemay exclude the resources (e.g., subframes) that correspond to the LTE SL resources,,andthat fall within the NR resource selection windowfrom the candidate resources for the NR SL transmissions.

240 The above example may be generalized to an exclusion rule that states the NR sidelink modulealways excludes the resources in the slots which have time overlap with LTE sidelink resources, irrespective of the the priority of LTE sidelink transmissions and NR sidelink transmissions.

235 240 235 In other exemplary embodiments, the information that is shared by the LTE sidelink modulewith the NR sidelink modulemay include time location of resources, resource reservation periods and priority for the LTE SL communications. Again, the LTE sidelink modulemay omit reporting the frequency location of resources for the same reasons as described with reference to the above examples.

4 FIG. 4 FIG. 430 435 410 450 455 410 To provide an example of the exclusion operation based on the above described exemplary embodiments,may again be considered.was already described above and will not be described again, except to note that the LTE SL resourcesandthat fall within the NR resource selection windowhave a high priority and the LTE SL resourcesandthat fall within the NR resource selection windowhave a low priority.

240 430 435 450 455 In this example started above, when the NR sidelink moduleperforms the exclusion operation, the resources (e.g., subframes) that correspond to the high priority LTE SL resourcesandmay be excluded from the candidate resources for the NR SL transmissions, while the low priority LTE SL resourcesandmay not be excluded from the candidate resources for the NR SL transmissions.

240 430 435 240 450 455 240 The above example may be generalized to an exclusion rule that states that the NR sidelink moduleonly excludes the resources in the slots which have time overlap with the LTE sidelink resources when the NR sidelink data priority is lower than the LTE sidelink data priority. That is, in the above example, it was considered that the high priority LTE SL resourcesandwere for LTE SL data that had a higher priority than the NR SL data and therefore NR sidelink moduleexcluded these resources from the candidate resources for the NR SL transmissions. On the other hand, it was considered that the low priority LTE SL resourcesandwere for LTE SL data that had a lower priority than the NR SL data and therefore NR sidelink moduledid not exclude these resources from the candidate resources for the NR SL transmissions. In some exemplary embodiments, the SL data (NR or LTE) may be labelled with a priority value and the exclusion rule defined above may be applied based on the corresponding priority values. In some exemplary embodiments, the lower the priority value, the higher the data priority.

240 325 300 325 330 325 330 335 240 320 300 x,y A total A total A In the exemplary embodiments, the NR sidelink modulemay implement the above resource exclusion rules, for example, immediately beforein the method, immediately afteror immediately after. After the exclusion of the resources, e.g., the LTE SL resource exclusion and the exclusions described above with reference toand, the resource selection operation may then continue toto determine if the number of candidate single-slot resources Rremaining in the set Sis smaller than the X*M. As describes above, when Sis smaller than the X*M, the NR sidelink modulemay increase the RSRP value and initialize the set Sto the set of all candidate single slot resources as described inof the method.

240 410 240 430 240 240 240 430 4 FIG. In some exemplary embodiments, the NR sidelink modulemay exclude the LTE SL resources one at a time rather than for the entire NR resource selection window. For example, the NR sidelink modulemay apply one of the above described rules for excluding LTE SL resources. However, the rule may be applied for as each applicable LTE SL resource is encountered, e.g., starting from the highest priority SL resource. Again, referring to, the first highest priority LTE SL resource is LTE SL resource. Thus, the NR sidelink modulewill apply the applicable exclusion rule to this LTE SL resource. In this example, it may be considered that the first exclusion rule is applied, e.g., the NR sidelink moduleexcludes all LTE SL resources from the NR candidate SL resources. Thus, the NR sidelink modulewill exclude the LTE SL resourcefrom the NR candidate SL resources.

240 335 430 240 420 240 435 x,y A total A total A total A total 4 FIG. However, instead of progressing to the next LTE SL resource to see if that resource should be excluded, the NR sidelink modulewill progress toto determine if excluding the LTE SL resourceresults in the number of candidate single-slot resources Rremaining in the set Sbeing smaller than the X*M. If Sis smaller than the X*M, then the NR sidelink modulewill reduce the RSRP value and return toto begin the resource selection process again with the higher RSRP value. If Sis not smaller than the X*M, then the NR sidelink modulewill determine if the next highest priority LTE SL resource (e.g., LTE SL resourcein) should be excluded and continue this process until either Sis smaller than the X*Mor all the LTE SL resources are treated.

240 The exclusion rule implemented by the NR sidelink moduleand the order of applying the exclusion rule may be based on resource pool (pre) configuration or UE implementation.

235 240 235 240 325 240 235 In some exemplary embodiments, the information provided by the LTE sidelink moduleto the NR sidelink moduleis that a particular LTE SL resource is not monitored, e.g., the LTE sidelink moduleis not aware if any other UEs are transmitting on the particular LTE SL resource. As described above, the NR sidelink moduleexcludes non-monitored resources inbut these are NR SL resources being used by other UEs. The issue presented in these exemplary embodiments in the treatment by the NR sidelink moduleof non-monitored LTE SL resources which is based on the information provided by the LTE sidelink module.

240 110 A In the exemplary embodiments, the NR sidelink modulemay exclude any candidate single-slot resource Rx, y from the set Sif it meets any of the following conditions. A first condition is the UEfails to monitor the subframe

in the LTE sidelink. A second condition is that the periodicity value allowed by the LTE sidelink parameters restrictRespurceReservationPeriod and a hypothetical Sidelink Control Information (SCI) format 1 received in subframe

x,y A total A x,y A 320 110 320 110 with a ‘Resource reservation period’ field. A third condition is if the number of Rfrom the set Sis smaller than X*Mas described in, then the UEmay initialize the set Sto the set of all the candidate single-slot resources as described at the beginning of. Thus, once these conditions are met, the UEmay exclude any candidate single-slot resource Rfrom the set S.

110 110 110 110 Those skilled in the art will understand that these features may be based on the resource pool (pre) configuration or UEimplementation. For example, if there is high priority NR sidelink data to be transmitted, then the UEmay want to identify the non-monitored LTE sidelink as exclusions to avoid any transmission conflict between the NR sidelink data transmission of the UEand potential LTE sidelink transmissions of other UEs. Accordingly, this feature may be enabled based on the NR sidelink data priority. For instance, for NR sidelink data with high priority higher than a certain threshold, this feature of the UEmay be enabled. However, if the NR sidelink data has a priority lower than the set threshold, this feature may be disabled.

5 FIG. 5 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 500 100 110 illustrates a timing diagramfor an exemplary resource exclusion operation by handling logical subframes from LTE and NR sidelink according to various exemplary embodiments.will be described with regard to the network arrangementof, the UEofand the method of.

5 FIG. 5 FIG. 5 FIG. 510 530 520 530 In, the LTE sidelink resource pool resources and the NR sidelink resource pool resources are shown as being in slots-. It should be understood that both the LTE SL resources and NR SL resources may not include every subframe in the slot. For example, in, the slotincludes a subframe that is not the NR SL resource pool and the slotincludes a subframe that is not in the LTE SL resource pool. It should be understood that the representation ofis only for illustrative purposes and the length of the slots and the number of subframes in a slot are typically defined by standard (e.g., 3GPP standards for the licensed band and IEEE standards for the unlicensed bands). However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited by slot length or the number of subframe sin a slot.

110 110 110 The UEmay handle the logical subframes or slots by implementing various exemplary techniques. In some exemplary embodiments, the UEmay decode the sidelink control information (SCI) to logically handle the sidelink data in both the LTE and NR sidelink. Those skilled in the art will understand that SCI comprises information that allows UEs to receive sidelink communications. For example, if the UEdecodes the SCI at

where the resource reservation periodicity is given by

110 110 540 540 110 then the UEmay be configured to perform operations based on the resource reservation periodicity. For example, the UEmay determine from the information in the SCI that there is an LTE SL subframeand as described above a resource reservation periodicity related to the LTE subframe. In exemplary operations, the UEmay convert the periodic extension of the LTE resource reservation to LTE sidelink logical subframes. For example, if the subframe

5 FIG. 540 550 550 550 is within the LTE sideline resource pool, then the subframe is considered as the periodic extension. This is shown inas the first periodic extension from the subframeto the subframe. In this example, the subframeis in the LTE SL resource pool meaning that the subframeis considered a periodic extension. However, alternatively, if the subframe

is not within LTE sidelink resource pool, then it is the first subframe within the LTE sidelink resource pool after the subframe

5 FIG. 560 560 560 560 570 This is shown inas the periodic extension to subframe. The subframeis not in the LTE SL resource pool meaning that the subframeis not considered a periodic extension but the first subframe after the subframethat is in the LTE SL resource pool (e.g., the subframe) is considered a periodic extension.

110 110 550 570 5 FIG. The UEmay then check the time overlap of the converted LTE logical subframes with the NR sidelink resource pool once the SCI is decoded. Once the affected NR sidelink resources have been identified, the UEmay exclude the corresponding NR sub-channels whose frequency domain may be overlapping with the LTE sidelink resources under certain conditions such as high measured RSRP value, etc. This is illustrated inwhere the LTE subframedoes not overlap with the NR resource pool but LTE subframedoes overlap with the NR resource pool.

110 110 In other exemplary embodiments, the UEmay handle the logical subframes from the LTE and the NR sidelink by implementing a technique that determines if the non-monitored LTE subframes or an LTE sidelink transmission by the UEis at

where the resource reservation periodicity is given by

5 FIG. 540 570 110 110 These exemplary embodiments may also be illustrated by, but in these examples, the subframes-are non-monitored subframes or subframes in which the UEis transmitting LTE SL data. First, the UEmay convert the periodic extension of its own LTE resource reservation or non-monitored LTE subframe to LTE sidelink logical subframes if certain conditions are met. In one aspect, if the subframe

550 is within the LTE sidelink resource pool, then it is considered as the periodic extension, e.g., subframe. Alternatively, if the subframe

560 is not within the LTE sidelink resource pool (e.g., subframe), then the subframe is the first subframe within LTE sidelink resource pool after the subframe

570 (e. g., subframe).

110 110 110 550 570 5 FIG. The UEmay check the time overlap of the converted LTE logical subframes with NR sidelink resource pool. Once the affected NR sidelink logical slots have been identified, the UEmay exclude all the single-slot NR resources which are time domain overlapping with the sidelink transmissions of the UEor non-monitored LTE subframes. This is also illustrated inwhere the LTE subframedoes not overlap with the NR resource pool but LTE subframedoes overlap with the NR resource pool.

Under conventional circumstances, the LTE sidelink resource pool may be configured with 15 KHZ sub-carrier spacing (SCS). However, in some exemplary embodiments, the NR sidelink resource pool may be configured with a higher SCS, e.g., 30 kHz, 60 kHz, etc. This may result in reception issues in the LTE sidelink. The exemplary embodiments introduce techniques for performing the resource exclusion in the NR sidelink transmission by handling higher SCS of the NR sidelink resource pool. These are techniques are described in further detail below.

6 FIG. 6 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 600 100 110 illustrates a timing diagramfor an exemplary resource exclusion operation when the SCS of the NR sidelink is higher than the SCS of the LTE sidelink according to various exemplary embodiments.will be described with regard to the network arrangementof, the UEofand the method of.

6 FIG. 6 FIG. 605 610 615 620 605 615 610 shows LTE sidelink selected and/or reserved resourcesandand NR sidelink selected and/or reserved resourcesand. As shown in, if the LTE SL transmission on the resourceand the NR SL transmission is performed on resource, the reception of the LTE SL transmission may be affected. For example, the automatic gain control (AGC) information of the LTE SL transmission is typically included at the beginning of the transmission when the NR SL transmission is occurring. Thus, when the NR SL transmission stops, the AGC information used by the receiver of the LTE SL transmission may no longer be valid and may result in issues at the receiver of the LTE SL transmission. A similar issue may also occur when for the LTE SL transmission on the resource.

110 The exemplary embodiments provide a resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking to consider the LTE sidelink resource reservation to consider the SCS difference between the LTE SL and the NR SL. The resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking may be performed in the time domain only and may include two operations. In a first operation, the UEmay determine the NR sidelink resource selection or reservation on a slot without LTE sidelink transmissions, e.g., in a manner consistent with the above described exemplary embodiments.

625 110 110 110 615 605 110 615 605 615 610 620 6 FIG. In a second operation, as the NR sidelink resource selection or reservation is approaching (e.g., as shown byin), the UE may perform a resource re-evaluation or pre-emption check. In this re-evaluation or pre-emption check, the UEmay detect other LTE sidelink resource reservation by other UEs or an LTE sidelink transmission resource selection by the UE. For example, when the UEinitially reserved/selected the NR sidelink resource, the LTE SL sidelink resourcemay not have been selected (e.g., by the UEor other UEs). However, since the initial reservation/selection of the NR sidelink resource, the re-evaluation or pre-emption check may reveal that the LTE SL sidelink resource may have been selected. The overlap may be in the beginning (e.g., resourcesand), in the middle and/or end of the subframe (e.g., resourcesand).

110 615 620 110 615 620 110 110 In some exemplary embodiments, when the overlap occurs, the UEmay drop the selected or reserved NR sidelink resourcesor. In other exemplary embodiments, the UEmay extend the selected or reserved NR sidelink resourcesorto the whole subframe if the remaining slots are available. The UEmay extend the resources by simply copying the same contents into the available slots. However, the UEmay implement this operation depending on the data priority of the LTE sidelink resource reservation and the NR sidelink transmission.

In some exemplary embodiments, when the SCS of the NR sidelink is higher than the SCS of the LTE sidelink, multi-slot transmissions are used the NR SL transmissions. Multi-slot transmissions may be considered to be transmissions that are repeated in two slots. The use of multi-slot slot transmissions for NR SL may be enabled or disabled by the resource pool (pre) configuration.

7 a FIG. 7 a FIG. 700 715 705 710 715 705 710 shows a timing diagramillustrating a first exemplary manner of using multi-slot transmissions when the SCS of the NR sidelink is higher than the SCS of the LTE sidelink according to various exemplary embodiments. In the example of, the x-axis is the time domain but the y-axis is not the frequency domain, e.g., while the resourceis shown above the resourcesandthere is no requirement that the resourcebe a different frequency than the resourcesand.

7 a FIG. 7 a FIG. 110 110 705 710 110 715 In, the UEmay perform multi-slot transmissions for NR SL. For example, the UEmay transmit the same contents (e.g., Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) and/or Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH)) in slotsand. Those skilled in the art will understand that NR SL resources will also be used for the UEto receive feedback (e.g., ACK/NACK) in a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) related to the PSCCH/PSSCH multi-slot transmissions. In the example of, the PSFCH is shown as slot.

715 715 705 720 715 710 725 715 705 710 An issue may be as to the timing of when the PSFCHshould be for the multi-slot transmissions. In some exemplary embodiments, the PSFCHis in a slot that is a predetermined number of slots (e.g., 2 slots, 3 slots, etc.) after the first PSCCH/PSSCH slotas shown by the timing line. In other exemplary embodiments, the PSFCHis in a slot that is a predetermined number of slots (e.g., 2 slots, 3 slots, etc.) after the second PSCCH/PSSCH slotas shown by the timing line. The location of the PSFCHmay be based on the resource pool (pre) configuration or on the information included in the SCI (e.g., a reserved bit in the first stage of the SCI may indicate whether the location of the PSFCH is based on the first or last PSCCH/PSSCH slot). In still further exemplary embodiments, multiple PSFCH transmissions may correspond to the multi-slot PSCCH/PSSCH transmissionsand.

7 b FIG. 7 b FIG. 750 770 775 760 765 770 775 760 765 shows a timing diagramillustrating a second exemplary manner of using multi-slot transmissions when the SCS of the NR sidelink is higher than the SCS of the LTE sidelink according to various exemplary embodiments. In the example of, the x-axis is the time domain but the y-axis is not the frequency domain, e.g., while the resourcesandare shown above the resourcesandthere is no requirement that the resourcesandbe a different frequency than the resourcesand.

7 a FIG. 7 FIG.B 7 b FIG. 110 110 760 765 770 775 760 765 770 775 Similar to, inthe UEmay perform multi-slot transmissions for NR SL. For example, the UEmay transmit the same PSCCH/PSSCH contents in slotsand. In the example of, the multi-slot transmissions are retransmitted as shown by PSCCH/PSSCH slotsand. The time gap between the PSCCH/PSSCH transmissionsandand the PSCCH/PSSCH retransmissionsandas may be indicated in the first stage of the SCI (e.g., the time resource assignment).

770 775 760 780 770 775 765 785 770 775 An issue may be as to how this time gap should be applied for the multi-slot transmissions. In some exemplary embodiments, the PSCCH/PSSCH retransmissionsandoccur based on the first PSCCH/PSSCH slotas shown by the timing line. In other exemplary embodiments, the PSCCH/PSSCH retransmissionsandoccur based on the second PSCCH/PSSCH slotas shown by the timing line. Again, the PSCCH/PSSCH retransmissionsandtiming may be based on the resource pool (pre) configuration or on the information included in the SCI (e.g., a reserved bit in the first stage of the SCI may indicate whether the timing is based on the first or last PSCCH/PSSCH slot).

In a first example, a method is performed by a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with other UEs via a legacy sidelink (SL) connection and a non-legacy SL connection, the method comprising receiving legacy SL resource information associated with legacy resources in an legacy resource pool for legacy SL transmissions and excluding non-legacy resources of a non-legacy SL resource pool for transmitting non-legacy SL transmissions based on at least the legacy resource information.

In a second example, the method of the first example, wherein the legacy SL resource information comprises sidelink control information (SCI) received in a first subframe of an legacy SL resource pool and a resource reservation periodicity related to the SCI, wherein the method further comprises determining a second subframe based on the first subframe and the resource reservation periodicity and determining whether the second subframe is in the legacy SL resource pool.

In a third example, the method of the second example, wherein, when the second subframe is in the legacy SL resource pool, the excluding comprises excluding corresponding sub-channels of the non-legacy resources that are frequency domain overlapping with the second subframe.

In a fourth example, the method of the second example, wherein, when the second subframe is in not in the legacy SL resource pool, the method further comprising determining a next subframe after the second subframe that is in the legacy SL resource pool, wherein the excluding comprises excluding corresponding sub-channels of the non-legacy resources that are frequency domain overlapping with the next subframe.

In a fifth example, the method of the first example, wherein the legacy SL resource information comprises a first subframe of an legacy SL resource pool that is reserved for an legacy transmission by the UE or for which the UE has not monitored whether other UEs are performing legacy SL transmissions and a resource reservation periodicity related to the first subframe, wherein the method further comprises determining a second subframe based on the first subframe and the resource reservation periodicity and determining whether the second subframe is in the legacy SL resource pool.

In a sixth example, the method of the fifth example, wherein, when the second subframe is in the legacy SL resource pool, the excluding comprises excluding non-legacy resources that overlap in time with the second subframe.

In a seventh example, the method of the fifth example, wherein, when the second subframe is not in the legacy SL resource pool, the method further comprising determining a next subframe after the second subframe that is in the legacy SL resource pool, wherein the excluding comprises excluding non-legacy resources that overlap in time with the next subframe.

In a seventh example, the method of the first example, wherein the legacy SL connection is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) SL connection and the non-legacy SL connection is a New Radio (NR) connection.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. An exemplary hardware platform for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, a Windows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having an operating system such as ios, Android, etc. The exemplary embodiments of the above described method may be embodied as a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

Although this application described various embodiments each having different features in various combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that any of the features of one embodiment may be combined with the features of the other embodiments in any manner not specifically disclaimed or which is not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation of the device or the stated functions of the disclosed embodiments.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent.